China Reacts to Outrage Over Student Abuse

Chinese police detained two teachers in China’s coastal Zhejiang province after photos in which the pair appeared to have physically abused students were posted online amid already simmering anger over child abuse in schools.

China’s state-run Xinhua News Agency reported Thursday that officials detained one of the teachers, surnamed Yan, on suspicion of causing a public disturbance after a photo posted online showed her smiling as she lifted a child off the ground by his ears.

The other teacher, accused of taking and uploading the picture, has been put under seven-day administrative detention, Xinhua said.

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Education officials in Wenling, a city within Zhejiang province, said they plan to launch an investigation of the incident and will ensure that child abuse is not widespread in the local school system, according to a statement from the Wenling Board of Education.

Photos of the teacher lifting the child by his ears, and additional photos showing children stuffed into trash cans and with taped mouths and hands, were reposted thousands of times on China’s most popular social media site Sina Weibo, triggering widespread public anger and discussion about corporal punishment in the country’s classrooms.

“The quality of teachers is eroding,” wrote Ji Mo, a Sina Weibo user in the northeastern city of Qingdao. “I still remember the humiliation of corporal punishment in my first grade math class; I never liked math.”

The incident is only one in a spate of recent acts of classroom violence against children. Earlier this week, officials in China’s northern Shanxi province detained a teacher who had ignited a similar uproar after she was captured on surveillance camera repeatedly slapping a five-year old on the face, according to a separate report from Xinhua.

There is scarce current data on the prevalence of corporal punishment in China’s education system. A 2004 survey of 528 Chinese students found that 58% had received corporal punishment, according to the United Nations Children’s Fund. The survey (pdf) noted that the students reported having been kicked, hit and beaten with objects.

An increase in the number of violent incidents against school children prompted China’s Ministry of Education in June to propose a national ban against corporal punishment, Xinhua said, adding that the proposal should guarantee students’ rights and avoid restrictions on personal freedom.

An existing law known as the “Law on the Protection of Minors,” already prohibits corporal punishment in Chinese schools, though not in private homes, according to UNICEF.

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